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Silverkun wrote on 2010-12-13 21:51
So, I've been recently getting into Alchemy a little. I've started off by getting r5 Barrier Spikes, as I was going to get that anyway due to the fact that I die easily and use no melee and have good archery (I'm an elf). Once I get r1 Spikes though I'm planning to go further into Alchemy and the first things I think I'll work on are Flame Burst and Chain Cylinder. I have no use for Water Cannon, as I can accomplish single-target ranged attacks easily with my archery (I'm also capable of shooting from a greater range than water cannon, and I can equal r1 water cannon in damage too).
Flame Burst is the one that interests me, as I needed a high-damage AoE attack.
[note: Please don't tell me to use Windmill. Also, I'm of the impression that Flame Burst has more potential than Crash Shot. I could be wrong about that, of course. Well, I don't want to get into Crash Shot yet anyways, it costs so much AP...]
I already have r1 prod. mastery, r5 magic mastery, and r9 meditation so stamina and MP are not a problem for me. Also, I forgot to mention, my Alchemy Mastery is only rD because I just started getting into Alchemy. I'll just rank that up slowly as I go, though.
Anyway, is there anything I should know? I thought I would ask around before making my final decision on what to do next.
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Akemii wrote on 2010-12-13 22:08
Tip for you, gather snowballs and make Blizzard Crystals with them. Makes Alchemy Mastery a bit easier to train, since they are easy to farm.
I don't know a thing about Crash Shot, I just know it's a really good skill ESPECIALLY for rafting.
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Silverkun wrote on 2010-12-13 22:12
Yeah, Flame Burst wouldn't be suitable for rafting. Well, it's not necessary for me to be great at rafting though.
As for the blizzard crystals, I really don't have enough AP to spare right now to get rA water cannon, which is required for Frozen Blast, and I can't make the crystals without that skill.
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NotAnElf wrote on 2010-12-13 22:18
Quote from Silverkun;246798:
Also, I'm of the impression that Flame Burst has more potential than Crash Shot.
It has less range, and severely less damage potential due to the lack of stat-damage gain, compared to CS.
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Akemii wrote on 2010-12-13 22:18
Quote from Silverkun;246833:
Yeah, Flame Burst wouldn't be suitable for rafting. Well, it's not necessary for me to be great at rafting though.
As for the blizzard crystals, I really don't have enough AP to spare right now to get rA water cannon, which is required for Frozen Blast, and I can't make the crystals without that skill.
Then you'll have a bit harder time getting high ranked Alchemy Mastery. Pretty sure AM directly affects damage.
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Silverkun wrote on 2010-12-13 22:23
@NotAnElf: Really? From what I understand though, Flame Burst is capable of a lot of damage, especially with a Tower Cylinder. I'm not really sure about how it stacks up to Crash Shot though.
@Blizaga: Barrier Spike crystals are pretty easy to make, you know. And I didn't say I'd never get Frozen Blast, just not right now.
EDIT: Ouch, I just realized that not only does Flame Burst not go through r5+ barrier spikes, it even damages them.... Perhaps I won't go into Flame Burst after all.
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NotAnElf wrote on 2010-12-13 22:27
It is capable of alot of damage
Crash Shot has much more potential though
Well, I mean Flame Burst can hit an infinite amount of enemies while CS can hit 7 max, though you really don't get more than 8 on average.
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Zack wrote on 2010-12-13 22:29
Since you don't want to do Water Cannon go with Flame Burst. Alchemy Mastery affects your damage quite a bit so it's best if you do Frozen Blast right after that. Barrier spikes is a slow way to rank it but still workable (MUCH SLOWER).
I really suggest Water Cannon though. It's really good with R1 AM and Chain Cylinder :x I think you should get that to at least rank 5 before Flame Burst.
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Silverkun wrote on 2010-12-13 22:40
Hm... Well, due to the fact that Flame Burst doesn't work with my r5 barrier spikes, I will probably drop that. On the other hand, I'm still not sure whether it would really be worth it to start on Water Cannon. So I'm not really sure where to go with this anymore.
Crash Shot would be beneficial, but it just costs such an outlandish amount of AP (the most in the whole game) that I don't want to work on it yet.
I wonder where I should go now... All this time I've really only worked on Ranged and Magic skills. As a result, I've accomplished all of these: (some of which I've already mentioned)
r1 Ranged Attack
r1 Magnum Shot
r1 Refine
r2 Metallurgy (because it helped with refine =/ and it does give dex and stamina)
r1 Production Mastery
r4 Critical Hit (I'm working on it)
r1 Firebolt
r5 Magic Mastery
r9 Meditation
r5 Playing Instrument (I want the +10 dex from r1)
r6 Musical Knowledge (gives lots of int)
r9 Composing (same as Musical Knowledge, gives lots of int)
Acquired all 3 advanced magic spells, though they're all at E or F since they use so much MP... I don't want to buy MP pots all the time.
r5 Barrier Spikes
I was honestly hoping that at some point I would be able to become a Royal Alchemist, though I understand that won't happen for a long while.
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Akemii wrote on 2010-12-13 22:57
ROyal Alchemist gives very nice enchants. Your ranged skill will go VERY well with range so you shouldnt even worry about offensive skills in my opinion. Get Frozen Blast so you can rank AM thoughh. At high ranks Frozen Blast can be useful as well. Just high AP cost.
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Silverkun wrote on 2010-12-13 23:03
Hm, but you can't get high rank Alchemy Mastery or become a Royal Alchemist without one of the offensive alchemy skills, can you? If I'm going to be an alchemist, I think I will need to work on either Flame Burst or Water Cannon, and neither seems especially useful to me.
I'll definitely get Frozen Blast, however I would put a higher priority on ranking Critical Hit and Barrier Spikes to r1 right now. Granted, ranking Critical Hit comes with time, I can't exactly grind that.
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Akemii wrote on 2010-12-13 23:06
Yup if you wanna be ROyal you should get some Offensive skills up xD
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Kaeporo wrote on 2010-12-13 23:22
As far as single target DPS is concerned, you cannot beat Final Magnum when combined with either Frozen Blast or Spark. That being said, Alchemy costs a lot of AP and offers little reward as far as stats are concerned.
r5 Barrier Spikes should be useful enough. I haven't needed to rank it any further. To be honest, I hardly use it at all. Too situational...
Crash Shot is definitely awesome. One of the best skills in the game, if you have the stats to support it.
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Silverkun wrote on 2010-12-13 23:28
^So your opinion is that I should rank Final Shot and either Frozen Blast or Spark?
It looks to me like Frozen Blast would work better with Magnum Shot than Spark would. Spark only stuns, it doesn't lock them in place.
Of course, just ranking Final Shot and Frozen Blast would cost me a ton of AP...
Mind you... I have 240+ stamina and MP, 200+ dex, and 220+ int. I'm not sure whether int would contribute to Crash Shot though, as I don't know a whole lot about it. Anyway, would you say my stats are suitable for Crash Shot?
As for Barrier Spikes, I don't know about that. I was in Fiodh Int for 4 the other day and the Spikes helped me out a ton. Granted, it's only necessary when I'm dealing with multi aggro. Previously though I wasn't able to deal with multi aggro very well at all, so this is very helpful in my opinion.
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Kaeporo wrote on 2010-12-13 23:56
Quote from Silverkun;246894:
^So your opinion is that I should rank Final Shot and either Frozen Blast or Spark?
It looks to me like Frozen Blast would work better with Magnum Shot than Spark would. Spark only stuns, it doesn't lock them in place.
Of course, just ranking Final Shot and Frozen Blast would cost me a ton of AP...
Mind you... I have 240+ stamina and MP, 200+ dex, and 220+ int. I'm not sure whether int would contribute to Crash Shot though, as I don't know a whole lot about it. Anyway, would you say my stats are suitable for Crash Shot?
As for Barrier Spikes, I don't know about that. I was in Fiodh Int for 4 the other day and the Spikes helped me out a ton. Granted, it's only necessary when I'm dealing with multi aggro. Previously though I wasn't able to deal with multi aggro very well at all, so this is very helpful in my opinion.
1. I've found Barrier Spikes to be situational. There are many situations where multiagro can be handled by running missions in small groups or through the use of skills like Crash Shot and Windmill. It's usually not worth my time to gather the crystals. That being said, it's a lifesavor for tasks that would be otherwise daunting to any player...It's nice to have but you certainly won't spam it.
2. Intelligence has nothing to do with Crash Shot. However, having a sizable Stamina and Mana supply will help a lot. I've got r6 Crash Shot at the moment (as well as around 200 dex) and it's extremely useful. Keep in mind that it's largely inefficient until around r5. It loads slowly and aims relatively slowly but stuns enemies long enough to fire another shot at r5. It can hit up to seven targets at r1 dealing 250% damage to six of them. The initial target receives base damage initially, followed by implosive damage which is equal to 150% x target count at r1. That's a combined total of 1000% damage to the initial target. The best part? Only the initial target, (which is likely dead) will agro you. That and the crazy splash range. Win skill.
3. Final Shot is an extremely powerful skill, greatly improving aim speed and decreasing the load times for Elven Ranged Attack, Magnum Shot and Crash Shot to 0.2, 0.375 and 1.5 seconds respectively. Frozen Blast is less reliable, has smaller range and a shorter duration but locks the foe in place and cuts defense and protection. Shock has awesome stunlock abilities and crazy range. You can't go wrong with either. That being said, they are far from a priority.
4. The best possible advice from one Archer to another. You need MOAR dex.